OUR HUMBLE BEGINNING . . .

• NIRA's formation brought to an end the long years of controversy in the country, over the management of this critical national resource, following the intervention of the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

• Although, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ICANN) had ceded the right to a proposed-organised stakeholders setup in 2004, none was agreeably established. Thus, while still working on a proposed organisation, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was mandated to stand proxy.

• The re-delegation of the .ng ccTLD came nearly 12 years after the country code was hosted first in Italy, and later by Mr Randy Bush, an American. While Mr Bush was the technical contact for the .ng ccTLD, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote served as the administrative contact. The .ng ccTLD had been managed since inception by an American, Mr. Randy Bush, resident in the United States from 1992 till 2006, while the administrative contact person was Mrs. Ibukun Odusote.

• The controversy trailing the hosting right made President Olusegun Obasanjo to step in on January 16, 2004 and directed that the management of the .ng ccTLD should be transferred from Mrs. Odusote to NITDA, temporarily.

• NITDA constituted a small team that evaluated the submissions from which an agenda for a National Stakeholder Forum was drafted. This forum was scheduled and series of national advertisements preceded the event.

• NITDA, Obasanjo insisted, should set up a transparent mechanism that will enable the Internet community in Nigeria and stakeholders to participate in the formation of a new body to manage and administer the ccTLD as a national resource.

• This position was communicated to ICAAN, which responded on June 9, 2004 and endorsed the administrative change as a pre-requisite for NITDA to formally proceed with the implementation of President Obasanjo's directive.

• And while the discussion between Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) among other stakeholders raged, Nigeria's treasured resource with the suffix, .ng remained under the control of Randy Bush.

• Indeed the history of Nigeria's Internet is monumental. It has been fraught with controversies, bickering and worthy struggles among interest groups. Efforts to resolve the conflicts were unsuccessful until the intervention of the then President.

• Several individuals, corporate, educational, government and professional groups responded to NITDA's invitation to submit position papers on the way forward.

• NITDA constituted a small team that evaluated the submissions from which an agenda for a National Stakeholder Forum was drafted. This forum was scheduled and series of national advertisements preceded the event.

FIRST NATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS' CONFERENCE

• On August 9, 2004, the first National Stakeholders' Conference was held in Lagos. The conference, which was very well attended, attracted all segments of the Internet Community in Nigeria.

• To ensure that actual experiences from other countries were shared amongst Nigerian stakeholders, two international resource persons from Kenya and South Africa; Michuki Mwangi and Mike Lawrie, were invited, they shared their experience on the domain name management of their respective countries. This was followed by an interactive session involving the participants present. Stakeholders, who had sent position papers to NITDA on the ccTLD management were also given the opportunity to make presentations at the forum on their proposals.

• At the end of the forum, a communique, which was endorsed by the principal stakeholders including the incumbent Administrative Contact of the ccTLD.ng was issued. The key recommendation of the Forum was the creation of a Working Group by the stakeholders, whose responsibility was to establish the modalities for setting up the non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation to manage the .ng ccTLD

• Federal Ministry of Science and Technology

• Federal Ministry of Information

• Federal Ministry of Education

• Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation

• The Presidency

• Bankers Committee of Nigeria

• Youth Groups | NGOs | CBOs

• The Media

• Nigerian Information Technology Professionals Association (NITPA)

• Two Representatives of State Governments.

• National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA);

• Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)

• Nigeria Computer Society (NCS)

• Internet Services Providers' Association of Nigeria (ISPAN)

• Nigeria Internet Group (NIG)

• Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN)

• Nigerian University Commission (NUC)

• Nigerian Society of Engineering (NSE)

• National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)

• Association of Telecommunications Companies (ATCON)

THE NUMBERS OF THE WORKING GROUP (REFERRED TO AS THE G22) WERE AS FOLLOWS:

POST-FORUM CONSULTATIONS

• Following the decisions reached at the Stakeholders' Froum, NITDA organised a meeting of a smaller subgroup of 8 members on October 26, 2004 to fine tune the modalities for the establishment of the non-government not-for-profit organisation scheduled to take-over the management of the .ng ccTLD.

• On November 4, 2004, the larger Stakeholders' Working Group convened a meeting to deliberate on the modalities drawn up by the Group of 8 mentioned above. The meeting was held at the conference room of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The meeting reviewed all the position papers submitted to NITDA and emerged with resolutions on the take-off of the anticipated organisation.

• The members of the .ng Working Group agreed that the nature of the institution would be non-governmental, not for profit, private sector driven and inclusive of and accountable to all

• members of the internet community in the country.

• It was resolved that the name of the organisation would be Nigerian Internet Registration Authority (NiRA) and that it would be registered as an Incorporated Trustee.

• It was agreed that the Government's role should be supervisory at best and that policy and practice on the ccTLD management should be determined by the emerging entity, pursuant to the prevailing market forces. In addition to these resolutions it was generally acceptable and that the Government's role would include intervention during conflicts.

• The structure of the institution was broken into four major departments namely Administrative, Technical, Registration Services and Dispute Resolution departments. It was agreed that the Dispute Resolution Department should be in line with ICANN's established policies on the subject matter and while a department should be created in NiRA to handle publication of rules and related matters in this regard, actual dispute resolution Service Providers shall be appointed by the TLD manager under conditions approved by the Board of Trustees of the institution. It was stressed that it was very important for such a department to be staffed by competent professionals with an in depth understanding of the workings of the Internet, intellectual property law and other international accepted laws.

• The Working Group concluded that general details relating to technical operations as well as institutional and individual competence should be left for the emerging institution to decide in order to ensure that the designated manager is given sufficient room to develop satisfactory and sound technical plans for the registry, essential for the stability and integrity of the registry.

THE SECOND STAKEHOLDERS FORUM

• In continuing the efforts to establish the .ng ccTLD Manager, NITDA organised a Stakeholders' Forum on the management of Nigeria's country code top level domain (ccTLD.ng), which was held on March 23, 2005 at the Muson Centre, Lagos. The Forum was attended by a number of individuals, who were present in their personal capacity and others, who represented organisations.

• The proposal for the management of the .ng ccTLD developed by the Group of 22 Stakeholders Representatives was presented by the secretariat of the G22 ccTLD Working Group in NITDA.

• The presentation by the G22 ccTLD Working Group highlighted the issues that were considered before living at the position contained in the proposal. Some of these were:

• The proposed name and structure for the anticipated organisation that would manage the .ng ccTLD;

• The role of government;

• The organs and departments for the anticipated organisation;

• Technical and administrative functions;

• Broad guidelines for the appointment of Domain Name Registrars and Second Level Domain Name Hosts;

• Free services to certain non-governmental organisations;

• A structure for domain name dispute resolution.

NAME OF THE ORGANISATION

• The G22 proposed that the organisation be named the Nigeria Internet Registration Authority (NiRA) out of a list of 2 names which included the following:

• Nigeria Information Centre (ng NIC)

• Nigeria Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (NiCAANN)

• NiRA was adopted by a majority vote; but was modified to read, Nigeria Internet Registration Association instead of Nigeria Internet Registration Authority. The votes cast were 53 for NiRA, 9 for ngNIC and 1 for NiCANN.

ORGANS OF THE ORGANISATION

• The G22 proposed the following organs for the NIRA:

• General Assembly to serve as the policy and power base of organisation;

• The Board of Trustees to serve as an advisory body shaping policies, practice and programmes;

• The Executive Board consisting of elected termed positions and;

• The Management Committee to handle the day-to-day operations of the ccTLD manager.

• After deliberations, the Forum agreed that the proposed organs were too many and would lead to unnecessary duplication of efforts. The importance of a streamlined and effective organisation was emphasised. It was resolved that the fundamental structure of the organs would be addressed after a constitution had been draw up in order to get a clearer picture of the roles which the various organs would play in the organisation.

DEPARTMENTS OF THE ORGANISATION

• The G22 proposed four (4) departments for NIRA namely:

• TLD Administrative Department;

• TLD Technical Department;

• Registration Services Department; and

• Domain Name Dispute Resolution Department

• The Forum resolved that the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Department should be merged with the Administrative Department and the Registration Service Department should be merged with the Technical Department. NIRA should have 2 working Department namely the Administrative Department and the Technical Department.

• Appointment of domain name registrars

• The G22 proposed that domain name registrars should be appointed based on "conditions applicable to Internet Service Providers." The Forum adopted this proposal with an alteration.

• The word "standards" was adopted instead of "conditions."

• Second level domain name hosting

• The G22 proposal on the second level domain name hosting was adopted by the Forum with modifications. The Forum resolved that the cadre of non-governmental organizations which would be eligible for free domain name hosting should not be mentioned in the guidelines.

• Domain name Dispute Resolution

• The Forum resolved that the bulk of the functions of dispute resolution would be outsourced to competent arbitrators. Would have to possess requisite legal background.

PROTEM BOARD OF TRUSTEE FOR NIRA

• The Forum deliberated on the constitution of a Board of Trustees for NIRA for the purpose of registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission. The following representative were appointed:

• Dr. Moses Ubaru National Information Technology Development Agency

• Dr. Chris Nwannenna Nigeria Computer Society

• Engr. Akinsola Cole Nigeria Society of Engineers

• Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem Nigerian Internet Group

• Mrs. Ibukun Odusote Federal Ministry of Information

• Mr. Emmanuel Arinze Presidency

• Mrs. Mary Uduma Nigerian Communication Commission

• Dr. G. M. M. Obi Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria

• Prof. I. S. Diso Kano State University of Technology

PROCLAMATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE .NG CCTLD MANAGER

• At the conclusion of the deliberations the following proclamation establishing the .ng ccTLD manage was made;

• "All ICT stakeholders and the internet community in Nigeria hereby establish for Nigeria, a non-governmental not-for-profit private sector led organisation to be known as the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) to manage the Nigeria country code top level domain (.ng ccTLD) in good faith and in the interest of the internet community in Nigeria."

POST-FORUM ACTIVITIES

• Two subsequent meetings held in Abuja on April 15, 2005 and May 12, 2005 respectively.

• The protem board of trustees in accordance with its mandate concentrated its energy on the formulation and adoption of a transparent and comprehensive constitution for NIRA. The first and second drafts of the constitution of NiRA were read and reviewed by the members of the board of trustees and circulated widely for comments and contributions from members of the public. A website was also developed for the entity.

• While the process of incorporating NiRA was on, NITDA acquired the servers needed to host the .ng ccTLD and trained six domain name administrators under the auspices of the agency and with the collaboration of Mr. Sunday Folayan (the CEO of Skannet) and Mrs. Ibukun Odusote (the erstwhile POC of the ccTLD).

• The purpose of the action taken by NITDA and supported by the Internet Community was to develop an effective strategy to take over the management of Nigeria's ccTLD from the U.S-based technical administrator, Mr. Randy Bush, pending the time NiRA would be fully born and ready to assume complete control.

• Through the active support and efforts of Sunday Folayan, the registration of domain names and management of the ccTLD by NITDA was automated. It is therefore expected that when NIRA assumes control. It will inherit a robust and fully automated process.

THE CLIMAX: PIONEER BOARDS.

• NIRA's formation brought to an end the Muson Center, Lagos.

• NIRA's Constitution was adopted by Stakeholders, at a meeting held on March 28, 2006. A Pioneer Board of Trustees (BoT) was elected among the stakeholders with Dr. Isaac A. Odeyemi as the pioneer Chairman, shortly after the adoption of the Constitution.

• Dr. Isaac Adeola Odeyemi (pioneer Chairman)

• Mrs. Ibukun Odusote (pioneer Secretary)

• Dr. Chris Nwannenna

• Deacon Chima Onyekwere

• Mr. Yunusa Zakari Ya'u

• Mr. Shina Badaru

• Prof. (Mrs.) Adenike Osofisan

• Mr. Olaleye Alao

• Mr. Adebunmi Adeola Akinbo

• The Pioneer Board of Trustee called a General Assembly with Mrs. Ibukun Odusote as the BoT Secretary. It was the first general meeting, hosted by the new NIRA board of trustees on May 1, 2007, the association elected an Executive Management Board headed by Mr. Ndukwe Kalu as the president. It coincided with the African Network Operators Group (AFNOG) workshop hosted for the first time in Nigeria and sponsored by NITDA.

• The Pioneer Executive Board of Directors were:

• Engr. Ndukwe Kalu (President)

• Mrs. Mary Uduma (Vice President)

• Mr. Vincent Akhimien (Secretary)

• Mr. Bimbo Olayinka (Treasurer)

• Mr. Sikiru Shehu

• Mrs. Yetunde Johnson

• Mr. Sunday Folayan

• Mr. Temitope Fashedemi

• Mr. Biyi Oladipo

• In 2011, NiRA appointed its first COO, Mr. Sola Bickersteth.

• In 2013, NiRA purchased its first Building and commenced renovation in 2014.

LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

• NiRA is an international player in the Internet of Everything across the globe with participation in different meetings and forums such as:

• Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

• Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

• Internet Society (ISOC)

• …to mention but a few.

• NiRA has also hosted a few national and international meetings. They are:

• Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NiGF)

• African DNS Forum (AfDNSF)

• Africa Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF)

• The above had been successful with support from the likes of:

• Ministry of Communication Technology (MCT)

• National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)

• Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)

RECENT TIMES…

• The Board of Trustee and the Executive Board of Directors had a change in membership and leadership in April 2013. The Executive Board of Directors is led by the President (Mary Uduma), the Board of Trustees has a Chairman (Deacon Chima Onyekwere). Also, Mr. Adebunmi Akinbo has since stepped down to fulfil NiRA Constitution for a representative from NITDA in the person of Mr. Emmanuel Edet.

• Day to day operation of the Association is run by the Secretariat and various Committees of the Board that ensure the smooth management of NiRA in the cyberspace.

SECRETARIAT LEADERSHIP…

• The NiRA Secretariat is run by a Chief Operating Officer (COO) who also acts as the Executive Secretary to the Executive Board of Directors (EBoD). Three (3) people have served in this capacity to date.

• Mr. Sola Bickersteth COO (January 2011 - June 2011)

• Mr. Ope Odusan COO (June 2011 - July 2013)

• Mr. Adebunmi Akinbo Ag. COO (July 2013 - May 2014)

• NiRA approved the employment of the current and first Female Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mrs. Edith Udeagu. She resumed office May 12, 2014. She leads a team of Six (6) that works round the clock to maintain a world class registry.

YEARS AFTER . . .

• Today, that strategy has paid off. Although NIRA has been incorporated and as assumed control of the management of the ccTLD, more is expected by the global village.

AKINBO A. A. CORNERSTONEWWW.AKINBO.NG

THANK YOU !